{"id":32922,"date":"2026-08-15T13:41:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T08:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/shantanu-thakur-calls-for-independence-day-to-be-renamed-swaraj-diwas\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T13:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T08:11:28","slug":"shantanu-thakur-calls-for-independence-day-to-be-renamed-swaraj-diwas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/shantanu-thakur-calls-for-independence-day-to-be-renamed-swaraj-diwas\/","title":{"rendered":"Shantanu Thakur Calls For Independence Day To Be Renamed Swaraj Diwas"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

North 24 Paraganas<\/span>4 minutes ago<\/span>Author: Tirthankar Das<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur sparked controversy on Independence Day by calling for the term \u201cIndependence Day\u201d to be removed from the dictionary and replaced with \u201cSwaraj Diwas\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaking at Petrapole on August 15, Thakur argued that India should no longer describe August 15 as a day of \u201cIndependence\u201d, claiming that the term itself reflects a British legacy.<\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/p>\n

I think the term Independence Day should be removed from the dictionary itself, <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/div>\n

Thakur said, arguing that India should instead celebrate the day as Swaraj Diwas, or the day of self-rule.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018How long will we carry British tag?\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thakur questioned the continued use of the term \u201cIndependence Day\u201d, saying,<\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/p>\n

How long will we carry the tag given by the British on our shoulders?<\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/div>\n

He claimed that India had been economically prosperous before British rule and alleged that the country’s economic position declined drastically under colonial rule. Thakur argued that August 15 should instead be seen as the beginning of India’s own rule and self-governance.<\/p>\n

Says he wrote to PM Modi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thakur said he had officially written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that the term \u201cIndependence Day\u201d be removed from India’s historical terminology.<\/p>\n

According to the Union minister, India should celebrate the establishment of swaraj<\/em> and recognise its position as the world’s largest democracy. He said India’s progress should remain the objective of every government, particularly the Central government.<\/p>\n

Praises Modi and Suvendu Adhikari<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Thakur also thanked Prime Minister Modi and West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, claiming that the latter’s political journey would help take West Bengal forward after decades of stagnation.<\/p>\n

He expressed confidence that West Bengal would eventually show the way to the rest of India.<\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/p>\n

India should move forward with its head held high.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"QuoteImage\"\/<\/div>\n

Thakur said India’s democratic system and development should allow the country to move forward with its head held high. His remarks at Petrapole have drawn attention on Independence Day, particularly his call to replace the widely used term \u201cIndependence Day\u201d with \u201cSwaraj Diwas\u201d in official and historical usage.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North 24 Paraganas4 minutes agoAuthor: Tirthankar Das Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur sparked controversy on Independence Day by calling for the term \u201cIndependence Day\u201d to be removed from the dictionary and replaced with \u201cSwaraj Diwas\u201d. Speaking at Petrapole on August 15, Thakur argued that India should no longer describe August 15 as a day…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}